Former President Donald Trump has reportedly been notified by federal prosecutors that he is a criminal target and is likely to face imminent indictment in the classified document probe.
People familiar with the case told Just The News that the revelation comes as the Justice Department has declined to delay charges to allow an investigation into allegations of witness tampering in connection with a senior prosecutor working on the case attempting to influence a key witness by discussing federal judgeship with the lawyer representing the witness provided by Trump’s legal team.
The sources said that the allegation is still pending in a secret case before Chief US District Judge James E Boasberg in Washington, DC.
A federal indictment brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith could be handed by a federal grand jury to Trump as early as next week.
Smith’s prosecutorial team informed Trump’s team in recent days that the charges he faces include a violation of 18 US Code Chapter 37 Section 793 which prohibits the “gathering, transmitting or losing” of national defense information. Other charges reportedly being considered are alleged false statements and obstruction of justice.
Sources told the outlet that Trump’s lawyers have been preparing their defense for months based on months of legal research in anticipation of charges. The 2024 presidential candidate’s lawyers are prepared to argue that Trump had Constitutional powers to declassify documents during his presidency and take them with him when his term ended.
His lawyers will reportedly rely heavily on a US District Court case out of Washington over a decade ago regarding former President Bill Clinton, which concluded that a president had the power to determine what documents from his presidency can be kept in personal possession.
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “No one has told me I’m being indicted, and I shouldn’t be because I’ve done NOTHING wrong, but I have assumed for years that I am a Target of the WEAPONIZED DOJ & FBI, starting with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, the “No Collusion” Mueller Report, Impeachment hoax #1, Impeachment hoax #2, the perfect Ukraine phone call, and various other scams & witch hunts. A travesty of justice & election interference at a level never seen before. Republicans in Congress must make this their # 1 issue!!!”
A document posted to Twitter on Wednesday from the Federal Registrar has revealed that Trump declassified certain materials pertaining to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation during his last days in office.
“At my request, on December 30, 2020, the Department of Justice provided the White House with a binder of materials related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Portions of the documents in the binder have remained classified and have not been released to Congress or the public,” the document states.
“I requested the documents so that a declassification review could be performed and so I could determine to what extent materials in the binder should be released in unclassified form,” the document continues. “I determined that the materials in that binder should be declassified to the maximum extent possible.”
The document states that FBI had objected to further declassification of the materials, and gave suggestions as to redactions that the documents needed, which Trump obliged to.
“I hereby declassify the remaining materials in the binder. This is my final determination under the declassification review and I have directed the Attorney General to implement the redactions proposed in the FBI’s January 17 submission and return to the White House an appropriately redacted copy.
Crossfire Hurricane was the name given to the investigation into allegations of coordination between Trump and Russia that surfaced during the 2016 election. The Durham report, released in May, found that the FBI “failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law” in their launching of the investigation.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
